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CDC Greenlights Moderna And Johnson & Johnson Booster Shots; Warrant: Alec Baldwin Didn't Know Prop Gun Contained Live Rounds; Questions Remain After Brian Laundrie's Death Confirmed; Sixty Years Since Trial Of Nazi Known As "Architect Of The Holocaust"; Judge: Defiant Capitol Rioters Fueling Threats From Trump Followers. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired October 23, 2021 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:00:00]

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): FDA vaccine advisers don't listen to the folks over at Pfizer. They'll hear them out to see if they will recommend an emergency use authorization.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One, two, three, poke.

ROMERO (voice-over): Friday, Pfizer releasing new data that shows its COVID-19 vaccine is about 90 percent effective against symptomatic COVID in children ages 5 to 11. Right now, the vaccine is only approved for people 16 and older.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER TO THE PRESIDENT: We want to make sure that when we outreach to the parents with trusted messages, particularly some of the most trusted messengers are the family pediatrician who most parents have a good deal of confidence in.

And we're trying to get people to realize it is for the benefit of the children as well as for the entire family unit.

ROMERO: Tuesday, an FDA advisory committee is scheduled to meet to discuss whether to recommend authorization for the Pfizer vaccine for kids 5 to 11. One FDA vaccine adviser makes this promise.

DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIRECTOR, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER: We will consider it. I mean, I can promise you that when we have this discussion that if we do end up recommending this vaccine, we would only do it if we would give it to our own children.

ROMERO: Now, more guidance for expectant and new mothers. The director of the CDC urging eligible pregnant and nursing women to get vaccinated and get the booster shot, too.

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, DIRECTOR, CDC: should get vaccinated if you are pregnant. If you are eligible for a boost and you're pregnant, you should also get your booster during that period of time, and I would say for nursing as well. ROMERO: Despite overwhelming scientific evidence of the effectiveness of vaccines, fears over the vaccine and its side effects still persist. About 100 out of about 13 million people who got the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine developed a rare neurological syndrome including Anthony Flint. While the FDA has not established that the vaccine can cause the syndrome, it noted an increase in reports of the condition.

ANTHONY FLINT, DEVELOPED GUILLAIN-BARRE SYNDROME AFTER TAKING J&J VACCINE: Yes, I really wrestled with it because the -- you know, this could easily freak people out. But you've got to come back and look at the numbers and just how rare it is. It's o.00008 percent chance of getting Guillain-Barre syndrome. And GBS is triggered by other things, too, not just vaccines.

ROMERO: Friday, Kaiser Permanente researchers released a new study showing people who received a COVID-19 vaccine were less likely to die from any cause compared to unvaccinated people. U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy doubling down on the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for federal workers.

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: Ultimately make sure we get through this pandemic and can protect people from the surge of COVID- 19. The vaccine really is the best way to do that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMERO: So, Pfizer says its vaccine is 90 percent effective amongst children. And they say, listen, we're talking about someone who's 5 to 11-years-old, in kindergarten up to fourth or fifth grade. So, the dose is about a third of the size that they would normally use for adults like you and me, Fred.

But bottom line, this timeline, if everything goes as planned, as Pfizer hopes it will, kids will not be eligible for this vaccine and fully vaccinated until about the winter holiday. So, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, that's when kids could be fully vaccinated.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Maybe that's just in time, right, when everybody does start to gather together.

ROMERO: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much, Nadia Romero. Good to see you. I appreciate that.

All right, let's talk more about all this. Dr. Jennifer Shu is with us now. She is a pediatrician and the editor of Baby and Child Health. Always good to see you. It's been a while. I'm so glad you're back. So, Dr. Shu, let me ask you. You know, help us understand why vaccinating kids in your view really might be a huge game-changer in terms of how the pandemic is impacting all of us globally.

DR. JENNIFER SHU, PEDIATRICIAN: So, part of it is the more people that are vaccinated, the better we'll be positioned to get rid of this pandemic. So, right now more than 6.8 billion people worldwide are vaccinated, and that's almost half the people in the entire world who have had at least one dose of vaccine. So, if we add children to that mix, we can get our numbers way higher up and hopefully prevent anymore variants from coming.

The most important thing is to try to protect our children as much as possible. You know, most children are going back to school in person now, and that 5 to 11 age group has not been able to get protected yet. And so, I'm really hopeful that there will be FDA authorization and CDC approval very soon.

WHITFIELD: So, a lot of parents are going to be nervous about their kids getting vaccinated. Then you've got folks who can't wait. I'm in that category. My teenager is fully vaccinated, but then, I have two others who are under 11. And I can't wait until they're eligible to be vaccinated.

So, no matter what the data says, what's the message that you want to send to parents who are apprehensive? I think it's great that Nadia pointed out that you know, kids would be getting a third of the dose of what adults have been getting. What else do you share with them, parents who are apprehensive?

SHU: Right. So, the first thing is I strongly recommend the vaccine for everyone who's eligible. And because kids' immune systems are stronger than adults, that's why we only need a lower dose. And with the lower dose, that means fewer side effects as well.

And so, we know that more than six million children have been infected with COVID so far, and there have been more than 600 death, and all those are tragic. And so, as much as possible, I'd like to protect the children in our country and in the world.

[12:05:21]

WHITFIELD: So, as time goes on, do you see that ultimately COVID vaccines are going to become part of that usual regimen of shots that all schools require, public schools require of all kids?

SHU: So, we already require in most schools MMR vaccine among many others such as whooping cough. Definitely, COVID vaccine is recommended now, and states will have control over whether that vaccine will be required for school entry or not. And so, I think it just remains to be seen, Fredricka. But for now, I do think it's really important for as many people as possible to get the vaccine to help with this pandemic and to help protect people.

WHITFIELD: And what do we need to know about potential side effects when it involves kids and vaccines?

SHU: With any vaccine, there's a potential for a day or two of mild side effects that will go away. And that includes having a sore arm, maybe a little bit of a fever, headache, fatigue, really minor side effects that compared to the potential for serious symptoms from regular COVID infection or long COVID or even death, the side effects for a day or two -- a day of two of vaccine outweigh any of the risks.

WHITFIELD: All right, Dr. Jennifer Shu, good to see you. Thank you so much.

SHU: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right, new details now in a deadly shooting on an Alec Baldwin movie set. A crew member in charge of handling weapons on that set recently said she head doubts about handling prop guns on a different movie set.

Plus, the manhunt is over for Brian Laundrie, but several big questions remain. Will the notebook found near his remains provide any answers?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:10:00]

WHITFIELD: Police in New Mexico are back on the film set today of a deadly shooting involving actor Alec Baldwin. In a warrant issued by the Santa Fe Sheriff's Office, an assistant director for the film Rust handed Baldwin a prop weapon and yelled "cold gun," meaning it was deemed safe.

Instead, police say Baldwin unknowingly fired a live weapon, killing the film's cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, and injuring the director, Joel Souza. CNN Correspondent Lucy Kafanov is in Santa De for us where the investigation is unfolding at this hour. What more are you hearing?

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, sheriff's officials tell us that they've been combing through that film set property. They've seized all of the film, the digital, electronic material to try to piece together exactly what happened on that terrible Thursday afternoon.

They do tell us they don't expect to update the public before Monday. We know that it was Thursday afternoon when the film was either rehearsing or filming on the set of this 1880s Western film called Rust. We understand that Alec Baldwin was inside that church-looking structure onset. The assistant director, as you point out, was actually outside of the building.

He grabbed one of three prop weapons that were set up by the head armorer. They were laying on a tray outside of the building. He brought it inside to Alec Baldwin who was dressed in his full Western regalia, his Western costume, shouting "cold gun," as you point out, which is supposed to mean it doesn't have any live rounds.

That is when something went terribly wrong. We understand that Alec Baldwin fired that prop weapon. We understand that Halyna Hutchins, who was just 42 years old. She was the head director of cinematography -- pardon me -- here on this film. She died of her injuries, was shot in the chest, airlifted to a Santa Fe, New Mexico hospital and died -- pronounced dead on scene.

The director, 48-year-old Joel Souza, shot in the shoulder, potentially still recovering in hospital. We don't know his whereabouts at the moment. Authorities say no charges have been filed. They are still investigating this case. Fred?

WHITFIELD: And then, Lucy, there are reports that several crew members had safety concerns before that shooting. What do you know about those?

KAFANOV: Yes, it's interesting, prior to Thursday's incident, several crew members actually quit the production over concerns over safety conditions. Some of them were related to COVID, some of them were related to working conditions, things like having to drive 50 miles to Albuquerque, away from Santa Fe to stay leading to long hours.

But some of the concerns we understand -- this is according to reporting by the LA Times and other media outlets, some concerns were about gun safety. And new details now emerging about the head armorer, the person in charge of safety for these prop weapons. This was a woman named Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. We know that from the affidavit. She's 24 years old.

According to a podcast that she gave an interview to nearly a month ago, she was trained by her father, the legendary gunsmith Thell Reed, who started teaching her about guns when she was just 16 years old. She only recently graduated from university and just finished working as a head firearms safety person for another film with Nicolas Cage.

Now, in this interview which was filmed about a month before this production started, she actually told interviews that she had doubts about whether she was ready for this job. She said, I quote, "I almost didn't take the job because I wasn't sure if I was ready. But doing it, it went really smoothly."

She also admitted in that podcast that she found loading blanks into the gun the scariest because she didn't know how to do it. She had to get help from her father to get over that fear. Fred?

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. That is -- that's pretty tragic and pretty incriminating to hear, isn't it? All right, Lucy Kafanov, thank you so much. Keep us posted.

[12:15:02]

All right, coming up, the discovery of Brian Laundrie's remains ends a month-long manhunt, but there are still many questions including what conversations he had with his parents and their attorney before his disappearance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The manhunt for Brian Laundrie has ended, but -- and after remains were found in the 25,000-acre Florida Nature Preserve, those remains have been confirmed to be his, but there remain a lot of questions.

Authority say items including a notebook and backpack discovered near Laundrie's body are key factors that may shed some light on the circumstances around his disappearance and his death and the death of his fiance, Gabby Petito. Joey Jackson is a CNN Legal Analyst and a Criminal Defense Attorney. Joey, always good to see you.

[12:20:19]

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Thank you, Fredricka. Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: So, investigators found this notebook and backpack near his remains. I mean, what are the questions that you believe investigators will have? What will they be looking for to help piece together some of this mystery?

JACKSON: Yes, so, Fredricka, there's so many responsibilities investigators have. And let's not forget that the primary responsibility really is to Gabby Petito's family, right? That was the basis upon which they were looking for Brian Laundrie in the first incidence. And so, I think investigators as a whole, just the global view, will really tie up the investigation as to Gabby Petito's death.

I think investigators will really circle around that and do the best they can to do that including prosecutors having a responsibility either to discontinue the grand jury investigation as to Brian Laundrie or, in the alternative, to seek a posthumous indictment, right, knowing now that he's dead and certainly being transparent with the family of Gabby Petito.

I think outside of that now specifically to your question, I think they have to look investigators, with respect to what's in that notebook, what's in the bag, was it really there, was it planted there, what did his family know, that is Brian Laundrie's family, if anything. What if any assistance did they provide with respect to him leaving before he was ultimately brought to justice by the police, etcetera.

And in the event that they have some culpability, the family members, that is, to explore that, and to hold them accountable too. And so, certainly a lot of questions here, but I think they want to get to the bottom of those questions, notwithstanding the fact, Fredricka, that Brian Laundrie is now deceased.

WHITFIELD: And that is another end of the investigation, too, the circumstances of his death. I mean, there was a weeks' long, many weeks' long search for him in this wildlife preserve. Medical examiners are trying to figure out how and when he died. And then, there are these mysterious circumstances surrounding how his remains were found.

All of these investigators who had been pouring through the reserve for this amount of time and his remains or anything about him was not found. And now, the remains have been located, and his family members helped in that discovery?

JACKSON: Yes. So, you know, Fredricka, it really is curious and I think we're right to be skeptical, and people are right to be skeptical with respect to his remains. I get and understand that there was receding water, and as a result of that, right, when the water receded, perhaps investigators had more of an opportunity to discover his remains.

With regard to the articles that were found, that is the bag and the other item that was found, the notebook, it really makes you scratch your head that it could be a family member that had found him, his father.

Let's remember that the FBI was investigating this case in addition to local and state law enforcement officials really coordinating and doing a, you know, tremendous job. The FBI is the preeminent law enforcement really agency in the world. They have resources to bear, they have technology. They don't find anything, but the family member does.

And so, you know, I say that to say, hey, look, perhaps that's possible, or maybe it's not possible. But what I could say is that part of that investigation will be to discern and determine what if anything the family members know or in the event that was a legitimate find or was it, you know, far more nefarious than that.

I think investigators have a right to know. Gabby Petito's family has a right to know. The world has really a right to know based upon us really evaluating and looking into this case.

WHITFIELD: And there are many tentacles in this investigation, right? Because, you know, there are still questions about what the family knew prior to the finding of the -- of the remains, but what kind of information are the parents cooperated with, what they shared, what they knew about the couple, the demise of the young lady before he went missing. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did Brian tell the Laundries what happened to Gabby before she disappeared?

STEVEN BERTOLINO, LAUNDRIE FAMILY ATTORNEY: George, that's not something I can comment on right now. I'd like to just leave it at that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if you can't comment on it, it means you know something about it.

BERTOLINO: Well, I think everybody out there knows that, you know, whether the family or myself have some information to share, but you know, there's not much we can say at this point in time. And you know, I'm going to leave it at no comment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So, what is stopping the FBI or local law enforcement from bringing in Laundrie's parents for questioning at a minimum?

JACKSON: So -- yes, so what happens Fredricka is that anyone and everyone has a Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, right? And that means that you're under no obligation to speak to the authorities at all. So, that's the first roadblock.

[12:25:08]

And in the event the investigation -- well, not in the event, it will proceed, I think police are going to be relying upon information like what -- like, any text message exchanges that may be helpful, like any email exchanges that may be helpful, like any other documentary evidence, the notebook evidence, other items taken from the home. They'll reconstruct the timeline. They'll look at that as to what the family members may have known.

And while they don't have to divulge that information, you certainly can't be misleading with the information, and you certainly cannot assist, aid, abet, or importune, right, a family member to get away from the police in any way. And so, the investigation is far from over.

And, quite frankly, you know, not that I'm accusing -- I don't know -- no one knows -- but in the event that the family did have something to do with the absconding of Brian Laundrie, I think investigators will get to that point. And if that leads to some criminality, I think that's a place we could be moving forward.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All right, and then back to the whole many tentacles, still unclear a lot of the circumstances surrounding Gabby Petito's death. We know that the cause of death has been determined to be strangulation, but still so many other questions left unanswered.

Joey Jackson, thank you so much.

JACKSON: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, he was known as the architect of the Holocaust. How the lessons from -- the lesson we learned from Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann 60 years ago are just as relevant today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:31:16]

WHITFIELD: All right welcome back. It has been 60 years since the notorious Nazi known as the Architect of the Holocaust stood trial for his atrocities. Adolf Eichmann was responsible for the systemic, unimaginable murder of millions of Jews. Charged with crimes against humanity, his trial in Israel was watched all over the world.

CNN senior legal analyst, Elie Honig, has a look at the Eichmann trial and how history surrounding it remains relevant and impactful.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST (voice-over): Sixty years ago the world saw evil. In 1961, millions of people across the globe watched as Adolf Eichmann, the notorious Nazi official known as the Architect of the Holocaust, stood trial in Jerusalem for crimes against humanity. MURRAY HONIG, SON OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS: What I do remember it happening, and I remember more the aspect of like, I think it struck me as more they got this guy. And I remember from that point on, it certainly people began to understand what this was about.

E. HONIG (voice-over): Eleven months earlier, Israeli Mossad agents had captured Eichmann in Argentina, where he had been living as a fugitive for a decade. They brought Eichmann to Jerusalem to face justice for his role in the systematic execution of more than 6 million Jews during World War II.

M. HONIG: Your grandmother is here. She is the, one, two, three, fourth from the right.

E. HONIG (on camera): Right. So, the vast majority of the people in this picture did not make it.

M. HONIG: They did not survive.

E. HONIG (voice-over): My father, the son of two holocaust survivors, remembers the trial as a turning point.

M. HONIG: You have to understand, now everyone knows the Holocaust with a capital H.

E. HONIG (on camera): Right, right.

M. HONIG: When we grew up, this was not a thing. The Holocaust was not a thing. It was a private tragedy. It was a -- it was a -- it was a tragedy of the Jewish people so a lot of it wasn't spoken about. Until Eichmann.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They infused together with the others during the period of 1939 to 1945 towards the killing of millions of Jews in his capacity as a person responsible for the execution of the Nazi plan for the physical extermination of the Jews known as the Final Solution of the Jewish Problem.

E. HONIG (voice-over): Gabriel Bach now 94 years old, was one of the prosecutors who tried Eichmann in Israel's newly formed court system.

GABRIEL BACH, DEPUTY PROSECUTOR, EICHMANN TRIAL: The courtroom, we had a special room where we -- all the prosecutors sat together and the defense counsel sat together. And then they had in order to protect the accused, they had a special glass booth where he was kept.

This was really a very, very special moment that here in a Jewish state, in a Jewish trial, we are the representatives of the Jewish people. And that we can show that the men who murdered millions of people from -- of our society that was very, very justifiable and very just that we should do that and not to leave it to a court of another country.

E. HONIG (voice-over): It was one of the first televised trials the world had ever seen. And it was a pivotal moment in the world's reckoning with the genocide perpetrated by the Nazis. MICHAEL GOLDMAN-GILAD, HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS (through translator): I was about 16 when the Nazis took over. In July 1942, my parents and my sister were taken onto a train. We did not know where at the time. But later found out it was the Belzec extermination camp. My sister was 10 years old. The last time I saw them was on my birthday. It was July 26th, 1942. And I saw them for 15 minutes.

[12:35:12]

E. HONIG (voice-over): Like my grandmother, Michael Goldman-Gilad, now 96 years old, lost most of his family to the Holocaust. He survived the horrors of multiple concentration camps, including Auschwitz, and he survived the infamous death march.

GOLDMAN-GILAD (through translator): It was January 18th, 1945. We were taken out in rows of 1,000 each. And there were SS officers with dogs and we were made to march. It was heavy snow and it seemed implausible. But, we marched 60 kilometers that night.

E. HONIG (voice-over): Thousands of people died during that brutal death march. Little did Goldman-Gilad know he would go on to play a pivotal role as an investigator in the trial of Adolf Eichmann.

GOLDMAN-GILAD (through translator): I was in my investigation room and when he entered the room, I saw a poor frightened person shaking. And in comparison to Eichmann in his SS uniform, this ubermensch, I couldn't believe it. It was the same person standing in front of me, responsible for the death of my parents. But when he opened his mouth, I cannot forget this. When he opened his mouth, I saw the doors of the crematorium open.

E. HONIG (voice-over): Goldman-Gilad and the investigative team, many of them Holocaust survivors themselves interrogated Eichmann over the course of several months. They went through thousands upon thousands of documents piecing together the horrific events and building a volume of evidence that they hope could prove Eichmann's role beyond a shadow of a doubt.

GOLDMAN-GILAD (through translator): One of the documents was from Poland documenting a single transport to Auschwitz in November 1943. And it has a list of numbers of those who arrived, those who were sent to the camps, those sent to the crematoriums. I realized my number is part of that list, 161135. So I looked at them, and I said you need not look elsewhere. The proof is here because I was part of that transport. The number is still on my arm.

E. HONIG (voice-over): The Eichmann trial served dual purposes. First, to bring the Nazi's chief architect of the Holocaust to justice. Second, to highlight in detail what had happened to the Jewish people with firsthand eyewitness testimony of survivors, people who turned the statistical 6 million-figure, into personal stories of horror that the world would be unable to forget.

BACH: There was a witness in called Martin Thirdy (ph). It was one of the witness -- (INAUDIBLE) was sent to Auschwitz city family and his wife and his little daughter and his son. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Then they told us, men to the right together with the boys after the age of four and women and children to the left.

BACH: Somehow, everyone knew, that people who are caught by some of -- by the SS people, they were sent either to the left or to the right in Auschwitz. So the right meant they could stay alive because they wanted their work on something. To the left meant to their death.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we saw that the women were already going. And we were still standing, until they almost disappeared. My girl wore a red overcoat. And I still, I saw that red spot. And that red spot was the sign that my wife was also there. About those red spot was waning, of course, and was smaller and smaller. I went to the right and I never saw them again.

BACH: Now, I had a little daughter exactly two and a half years old. I had bought her two weeks before the red coat. When we spoke about that, the little girl, two and a half years old with the red coat, and the little red dot, getting smaller and smaller, this is how his whole family disappeared from his life. I was standing there as the prosecutor. I suddenly couldn't utter a sound.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eichmann had practically unlimited power to declare who was to be killed among the Jews, chronologically and by segment of population, what countries geographically and throughout.

E. HONIG (voice-over): After months of the prosecution presenting its case, Eichmann finally took the stand in his own defense.

[12:40:07]

BACH: I wondered that it would be clear to everyone in the world that this was -- this man was given a just trial that he was given a possibility to have a defense council, who would be covered by the government. He asked for a German and therefore the government agreed to that. And I certainly agreed with that. And then the whole trial in every way and every field should be handled in a just manner.

E. HONIG (voice-over): Under cross examination, despite being confronted with documents that showed his direct involvement, Eichmann repeatedly claimed he was just following orders.

ADOLF EICHMANN, ARCHITECT OF THE HOLOCAUST (through translator): I did not give these orders whether the people should be taken to their death or not. This was the administrative routine. This is how it was arranged. And my task in this was just a tiny, particle in this.

I am not beating about the Bush. I was in Hungary also, one of those receiving orders and not giving orders.

GOLDMAN-GILAD (through translator): He lied through and through. He was acting. He was acting all the time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In September 1939, the accused committed acts of expelling, uprooting, and exterminating a population. In coordination with massive -- E. HONIG (voice-over): Finally in December 1961, the trial was over and the verdict was in. The court found Eichmann guilty and sentenced him to death.

BACH: Here was a man who was appointed to be charged of causing the carrying out of the murder of millions of people, so if any person deserved this, it was him.

GOLDMAN-GILAD (through translator): That was the sentence for one person. But what about the other Eichmann's who fled Germany and died at good old ages and were never brought to trial. You can give a sentence for one person, but you cannot avenge. There is no vengeance for what was done to the Jewish people.

E. HONIG (voice-over): After Eichmann had exhausted all of his legal appeals, he was hanged just a few minutes past midnight on June 1st, 1962.

Michael Goldman-Gilad witnessed the execution and was part of the very small group chosen to spread Eichmann's cremated ashes at sea.

GOLDMAN-GILAD (through translator): I remember seeing the ashes, how little the ashes were. I thought wow, how can this be so few ashes for a whole human being?

And this brought me back to an incident in Birkenau when about 30 of us were taken from our barracks to another building. That building had a chimney. It was a crematorium. And next to it was a mountain. When I got closer, I realized that mountain was a mountain of ashes, a mountain of human beings.

I remember, it was cold and it was icy, and we were ordered to take wheelbarrows and shovels and take the ashes and spread them on the road so that the soldiers who were patrolling would not slip on the ice.

After we have spread Eichmann's ashes, we stood quietly at the edge of the boat. And I thought to myself about my parents, my family, and those who did not have the privilege to see one of the greatest murderers brought to justice.

E. HONIG (voice-over): Sixty years later with the number of living witnesses to the Nazi campaign of terror shrinking by the day, the risk of Holocaust distortion and denial is a threat that makes the lessons of the Eichmann trial more relevant today than ever.

CROWD: Jews will not replace us.

E. HONIG (voice-over): The fight against hate based on race, religion, ethnicity, sex is a battle that's still being fought. White supremacy and racial hatred remain serious threats and they are on the rise.

GOLDMAN-GILAD (through translator): With the death of Eichmann, the murderous ideology of nationalist socialism was not scattered. It is still existing here and there in the form of hatred, hatred that is dangerous. And we must be on guard so that catastrophes do not repeat themselves. Hatred can cause catastrophes and bring an end to this world, to this planet, and we must educate the new generations not to hate and to avoid such hatred. Otherwise, our struggle against evil will be in vain.

E. HONIG (voice-over): As the grandson of two holocaust survivors, I am part of one of those new generations. Sixty years ago, Gabriel Bach and Michael Goldman-Gilad stood up and fought for justice, for their own families, for mine, and for millions of others.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[12:45:08]

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh, I mean, CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig with us now, I mean, that is so incredibly powerful and how important it is to help old generations. But too for these young generations understand the gravity of what took place.

Yes, 60 years ago, but the relevance of today, too. I mean, this is, this was really heart wrenching I mean, to hear these experiences from Holocaust survivors. Why do you think it's so important that people of all generations really understand how elements of this part of history can today peddle similar divisiveness, hate, and life and death lies today?

E. HONIG: Fred, both of these men who I had the privilege to interview Gabriel Bach and Michael Goldman-Gilad, they both live through experience witnessed firsthand, one of the worst atrocities in human history, the Holocaust. And they both stress to me that the lessons that they learn from that and from the trial that followed are relevant today and will be relevant into the future.

I mean, just think about the past few weeks, we've seen Auschwitz itself, the barracks at Auschwitz was desecrated with Nazi graffiti. We saw the incident just a week or two ago here in the United States, where a school administrator said, well, if schools are going to teach Holocaust, they also need to teach the opposing view, whatever that is, I can't even imagine what that might be.

And we've seen statistics showing that Holocaust denialism, people who say, it didn't happen or it was exaggerated are alarmingly high and rising, and that's why we can never forget, this is a threat that remains with us today. I think the lesson from 60 years ago remains just as relevant now.

WHITFIELD: I mean, those recent occurrences, it really does underscore the ignorance and then like you said denialism. Some are just refusing to believe but they really do know the facts, but they want to portray this image or this thinking that it couldn't have possibly happened.

So just as we saw in your piece, while through the power of survivors, they actually helped bring Eichmann to justice. But then like one of them said in your piece, there is no vengeance for what was done to the Jewish people. Why weren't there more of these Nazi officials who were brought to justice? Many were able to escape to neighboring countries and just kind of, you know, blend in. But what are some of the stories behind? Did the effort cease on trying to find others who culpable?

E. HONIG: Yes, Fred, it's a great question and to some extent, it's really an unsolved mystery. I mean, some of the top Nazi brass killed themselves or were killed towards the end of World War II, others got away. Adolf Eichmann was captured by the allies. He escaped in 1946 from the allies and lived for 14 years secretly in Argentina until Israeli secret forces captured him.

And both of these men really stressed this concept of justice, which resonated with me. I was a prosecutor 50 years later in a very different world and a very different part of the world but I really connected with them on that.

Can you ever undo one murder, nevermind 6 million? Of course not. But both of these men are very proud for the role that they played in bringing one of the worst war criminals in human history to justice and that they did it the right way and the fairway with the trial, with facts, with evidence, and with truth.

WHITFIELD: Well, thank you so much for bringing that to us. Again, no one should forget. And if you don't know about it, then everyone should know. Thank you so much, Elie Honig.

E. HONIG: Thanks Fred.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate it.

E. HONIG: Appreciate it.

[12:48:31]

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, defiant Capitol rioters who still falsely believe the election was stolen from former President Trump had a new target, but judges overseeing the cases.

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WHITFIELD: A federal judge did not mince words while describing the January 6th insurrection. Judge Reggie Walton warning that defiant Capitol rioters are fueling threats from Trump's supporters, the comments came during a hearing for Capitol riot defendant Lori Vinson and her husband Thomas Vinson, Walton giving them each five years of probation and a $5,000 fine saying he wants, quoting him now, the sentence to hurt, end quote, to hopefully deter future incidents. CNN's Marshall Cohen joining me now. Marshall, do we know why there -- no one's getting jail time?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Fred, hey, good afternoon. It's a fair question about jail time. Everybody wants to see accountability here. The question is, what does that look like? In this particular case, no jail for these two rioters, Lori and Thomas Vinson from Kentucky but the judge went in a different direction.

As you mentioned, he fined them, the maximum allowed under the law of 5,000 each. They'll also have to pay some restitution to repair the damage at the Capitol. So for this family, they'll have to cough up $11,000 to the U.S. government.

That's pretty -- it's pretty significant if you ask me. A lot of these people, they're not high-powered lawmakers or lobbyists. They're just regular American people. And, you know, that really could hit them in their pocketbook as an alternative to jail.

But Fred, this is about so much more than jail or no jail, really, this is about the future and the durability of our democracy. And I want to read for you another quote from that Judge Reggie Walton that he said while he was handing down the sentence in this case. He said, quote, it does threaten the future of our democracy. Democracies die and we've seen it in the past when citizens rise up against their government and engage in the type of conduct that happened on January 6th.

[12:55:17]

So he said the danger is still there. He's getting threats. Other judges are getting threats from people that still, still one year later, believe the big lie. Fred?

WHITFIELD: Of course, and some of the, you know, questions that continue that remain is, you know, is the penalty commensurate with the crime committed, the damage done. Marshall Cohen, thank you so much.

All right, coming up, a tragedy on an Alec Baldwin film set where a woman was killed by a prop gun. One crew member speaking out, saying quote, Baldwin's life is forever ruined.

And don't forget a new episode of the CNN Original Series, "Diana," airs tomorrow night at 9:00.

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